Take it or leave it: Negotiations in luxury market fall to 0%

Complete lack of wiggle room seen for the first time since '14: Olshan

(iStock, Illustration by Kevin Cifuentes for The Real Deal)
(iStock, Illustration by Kevin Cifuentes for The Real Deal)

In the market for a New York luxury unit and hoping to talk your way into a better price? You’re officially out of luck.

Negotiability in Manhattan for units priced $4 million and up fell to 0 percent, a stat not seen since 2014, according to the latest market report from Olshan Realty. Year-to-date, the luxury market has averaged 4 percent negotiability from the original asking price to the last asking price before a property goes into contract.

Last year, negotiability was 9 percent on average for the year, according to Donna Olshan, president of Olshan Realty and author of the report.

The priciest home to go into contract the week of April 11 was a 46th-floor pad at JDS Development Group, Property Markets Group and Spruce Capital Partners’ 111 West 57th Street, asking $30 million. That’s up from the $28.5 million it was asking when it was listed off of floor plans in 2016.

The three-bedroom, 3.5-bath condo spans nearly 4,500 square feet and boasts a 50 x 21-foot great room overlooking Central Park.

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The second priciest contract was PH30 at 301 East 80th Street, asking $27.5 million, raised from $25 million when the property was listed off of floorplans in October 2019. The penthouse, which spans nearly 5,500 square feet, has five bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms.

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The unit is in the new Beckford Tower, developed by Icon Realty Management, a 31-story limestone condo with 72 residences designed by William Sofield. Amenities include a fitness center, a 65-foot pool, half-court basketball, playroom, game room and resident’s lounge.

In total, 41 contracts were signed between last week, marking the fourth time this year of 40 or more sales. The homes’ asking prices totaled nearly $308 million, with a median of $5 million. The units spent an average of 541 days on the market.

Twenty-nine of the 41 units were condos, seven were co-ops and four were townhouses.